Month: March 2023

‘The North of Ireland Family History Society is collaborating with Wikitree for their latest
community Challenge.
Beginning on Thursday 16 March and running for one week, Wikitree users will get together to research seven notable people from the North of Ireland.
The objective is to add seven connections to each of the seven people, going in any direction.
William (Millar) Boyd (1931-1977)
Henry George Ferguson (1884-1960)
Seamus Justin Heaney (1939-2013)
John Wilson Kyle (1926-2014)
Robert William Moore (1952-2011)
William James Pirrie (1847-1924)
Ruby Florence Murray (1935-1996).

Anyone who is a registered Wikitree user can register to join the Challenge at https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1550711

Mags Gaulden, who will be speaking at OPL Genealogy Day on 1 May, will be a part of a WikiTree LiveCast as the North of Irland Family History Society does the WikiTree Challenge. The video will be available on the WikiTree You Tube Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/@WikiTreers/streams

As a past president of the Ontario Genealogical Society, and long-time Chair of its Niagara Peninsula Branch, Steve Fulton is intimately aware of the challenges facing genealogical societies.

In his first post on his new site, he introduces the term “Gold Dust” to describe the potential for small(ish) societies to thrive. It’s a term he picked up at RootsTech.

In coming posts, he will explore and share some thoughts on “Gold Dust” and how it will make and keep Societies relevant.

Welcome to the blogging community Steve.  I look forward to reading more details.

This post was stimulated by the appearance on Canadiana Héritage of 28 digital microfilms of indexes and registers of Orders-in-Council, from Confederation in 1867 to 1930. They are LAC microfilms C-2075 to C-2093, and C-4801 to C-4809. Information on the context is incomplete so I set about finding more about them and stumbled into something unexpected using LAC’s Collection Search.
For searches including quotes the counts, each of which is preceeded by >, for what one might think would be the same search are different depending on whether words are capitalize and hyphens are included.

Searching for the phrase with hyphens and without quotes gives the same results no matter the capitalization. But there is no consistancy with the results in the bar chart.

Most searches will include additional terms, like a name. There will be fewer results to wrestle with. If you don’t find what you expect try variations, especially if using phrases in quotes.

Choose from selected free online events in the next five days. All times are ET except as noted. Those in red are Canadian, bolded if local to Ottawa or recommended. Assume registration in advance is required; check so you’re not disappointed. Additional mainly US events are listed at https://conferencekeeper.org/virtual.

TUESDAY 14 March

2 pm: RootsTech Recap, by Daniel Horowitz for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/rootstech-recap/

6:30 pm: Dissecting the Documents: UK Censuses from 1801-Present, by Penny Walters for OGS Lambton Branch. https://lambton.ogs.on.ca/home/lambton-branch-monthly-meeting/

WEDNESDAY 15 March

2pm: Exhausting Research to Find an Impossible Immigrant!, by Warren Bittnerfor Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/exhausting-research-to-find-an-impossible-immigrant/

2: 30 pm: Historical Society of Michigan: Historical Writing and
Publishing, by Robert Myers for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/8056424

7 pm: A Genetic Journey, by Jan Murdoch for Lakeshore Genealogical Society.
Register at LGSregister@gmail.com

THURSDAY 16 March

1 pm: City Of Kawartha Lakes Records and Archives Centre, by Angela Fornelli for OGS Kawartha Branch.
https://kawartha.ogs.on.ca/Past-Events1/kawartha-branch-presents-city-of-kawartha-lakes-records-and-archives-centre/

6:30 pm: The Photo Angel: Reuniting Long Lost Photos with Families, by Kate Kelly for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/8056425

FRIDAY 17 March

7 pm: Paths to a Patent: Acquiring Crown Land in Upper Canada, by Jane MacNamara for OGS Niagara Peninsula Branch.
https://niagara.ogs.on.ca/events/niagara-peninsula-branch-monthly-webinar-series-2023-03-17/

SATURDAY 18 March

10 am: The Great Hunger – a Genealogist’s Perspective, by Melanie McLennan for OGS Kingston Branch/
Pre-registered at: 
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIvc-ihrzIqGNWez2D0Z-fuGnw3zrZbrKmC

1 pm: Canadian Records available on FamilySearch and Ancestry, by  Lianne Kruger for OGS Ottawa Branch
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYvdu2srT4uE9H46ySqmVcb2HaDTsriCBPf

1 pm: Peter Robinson Settlers, by Cheryl Levy for OGS Quinte Branch.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUucuirrDMuGNMQunoF2WNiZc1bws3GN9Pr

This blog had its first posting, about Library Elf, on 14 March 2006. That was at the old web address; you can read the first post here.

There are now between 60 and 70 posts each month, down from a peak of 90 per month in 2011.

It’s also π day.

Hon. Patron of the Ontario Genealogical Society, Senator Lorna Dennison Milne (13 December 1934 – 1 March 2023) had a passion for genealogy and researching family history. 

As a Senator, she waged a seven-year campaign (1998 to 2005) to allow historical census data to be released to the public. It culminated when Bill S-18 was passed, ensuring that all censuses conducted until 2001 would be released after 92 years. In a compromise, starting with the 2006 census, for all subsequent censuses Canadians were enabled to decide whether or not their information was to be released. Parliament subsequently passed legislation reestablishing full access by amending the Statistics Act, remove any restrictions for the 2021 Census and beyond. (Statutes of Canada 2017. Chapter 31. section 18.1(1))

See Senator Milne’s full obituary here,

Adding to the same capability for the 1911, 1901, 1891 and 1881 censuses, the 1871 Census for England, Scotland and Wales has, for the first time, been georeferenced on TheGenealogist.

Linking a record to a geographical spot and means TheGenealogist will now show a map pinpointing its location. Clicking through from this preview map opens the Map Explorer™ with its georeferenced modern and historical maps enabling subscribers to explore the area in detail.

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Watch Chickens Hatch
From Oregon State University, a YouTube Livestream with the expected hatch on Tuesday 14 March.

Getting the most out of the Wayback Machine

This Is Not 1987
Global demography has changed. Our thinking needs to catch up.

The following two articles offer rather different perspectives on the same issue.

Suicide attempts rose among children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for girls

Why the Mental Health of Liberal Girls Sank First and Fastest

Ancestry adds England And Wales, Girls’ Day School Trust Records, 1873-1950
17,778 entries in registers of students and teachers who attended or worked at schools in London, England, run by the Girls’ Day School Trust and its predecessors between 1873 and 1950.

Open Plaques
In case you missed it yesterday

Thanks to this week’s contributors: Anita Nevins, Anonymous, Brenda Turner, gail benjafield, Jane Down, Linda Reid, Nick Mcdonald, Sylvia Smith, Teresa, Unknown.

• Start your Irish research
  Nicola Morris explains how to break down your brick walls and go further with Irish family history
• Walk in your ancestors’ footsteps
  Chloe O’Shea on the joys of visiting where your ancestors lived
• Let’s get physical
  The history of exercise
• Reader story
  Helen Murray‘s family hosted some of the most famous figures of the day in Cromer
• Plus…
  Researching illegitimate births, tracing textile mill workers, recording oral histories and moreAround Britain

• Worcestershire
  Discover the county’s family history records

Lancashire, Barrow-in-Furness Shipbuilding & Engineering Employees 

Travel back to the early 20^th century with this new transcript collection, covering shipbuilding and engineers from Lancashire. These 96,374 records, sourced from the Cumbria Archive Service,  give a name or initials, date of birth (sometimes), the department worked in, address, and duration of work. They also include around 1,300 female employees from the First World War period.  

 United Kingdom, Commemorative Plaques 

These 12,785 commemorative plaques remember figures like Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Pankhurst, and even Hodge, the feline friend of Samuel Johnson. Depending on the plaque, you may find a name, date of birth, date of death and address.  Try searching for a place of interest.
This is a subset of those on the international Open Plaques crowdsource project which includes 576 plaques in Canada, 13 in Ottawa.